Mrs Gimble hates opera but she had a dinner date last night so I was able to dip into my collection and I pulled out this 1991 production from Berlin. It enabled me to reflect on how far wig technology has advanced in the last ten years or so. For example, Kiri Te Kanawa spent the 1980s and early '90s committing some brilliant performances to film, most of them while wearing a dead ferret on her head. Here, Thomas Allen does Don Giovanni in a Count Dracula wig. I heard Thomas Allen on the radio recently grumbling that he does not get offered Don Giovanni any more but, even in 1991, one can see the problem. When he is seducing the delectable Andrea Rost, as Zerlina, it seems as unlikely a pairing as
as
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. OK, bad example.
The last live Don Giovanni I saw was the Glyndebourne production set on a dung heap topped with a dead horse. After that, it is something of a relief to see a traditional production. The problem is that this production is so traditional that it becomes boring. Mozart's librettist, da Ponte does describe this work as a comedy. I know that Mozart's sublime music undercuts the comedy but it is the tension between the two that makes this opera so wonderful. There are not many laughs in this production. Also, at the end, I do like to see the statue move and I like to see the stage open up, the flames of hellfire and the Don being dragged down to hell by a chorus of devils. We are denied all of these innocent pleasures in this po-faced production.
Vocally, Thomas Allen suits the part very well. There is a strong Donna Anna in Carolyn James and Reinhad Dorn is a well-judged Masetto. Carol Vaness is a bit wobbly as Donna Elvira and Feruccio Furlanetto makes an unprepossessing Leporello. You have probably already guessed that I am an Andrea Rost groupie. Her Zerlina looks and sounds wonderful.
The last live Don Giovanni I saw was the Glyndebourne production set on a dung heap topped with a dead horse. After that, it is something of a relief to see a traditional production. The problem is that this production is so traditional that it becomes boring. Mozart's librettist, da Ponte does describe this work as a comedy. I know that Mozart's sublime music undercuts the comedy but it is the tension between the two that makes this opera so wonderful. There are not many laughs in this production. Also, at the end, I do like to see the statue move and I like to see the stage open up, the flames of hellfire and the Don being dragged down to hell by a chorus of devils. We are denied all of these innocent pleasures in this po-faced production.
Vocally, Thomas Allen suits the part very well. There is a strong Donna Anna in Carolyn James and Reinhad Dorn is a well-judged Masetto. Carol Vaness is a bit wobbly as Donna Elvira and Feruccio Furlanetto makes an unprepossessing Leporello. You have probably already guessed that I am an Andrea Rost groupie. Her Zerlina looks and sounds wonderful.